Sunday, September 2, 2007

A Favorite Poem

In the spirit of this weekend of remembrance and thinking about the preciousness of life, I wanted to share one of my favorite poems. To my mind, it has much to say and much to instruct about the way we choose to live our lives.

THE TWO TREES

by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart,The holy tree is growing there;From joy the holy branches start,And all the trembling flowers they bear.The changing colours of its fruitHave dowered the stars with merry light;The surety of its hidden rootHas planted quiet in the night;The shaking of its leafy headHas given the waves their melody,And made my lips and music wed,Murmuring a wizard song for thee.There the Loves a circle go,The flaming circle of our days,Gyring, spiring to and froIn those great ignorant leafy ways;Remembering all that shaken hairAnd how the wingèd sandals dart,Thine eyes grow full of tender care:Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.

Gaze no more in the bitter glassThe demons, with their subtle guile,Lift up before us when they pass,Or only gaze a little while;For there a fatal image growsThat the stormy night receives,Roots half hidden under snows,Broken boughs and blackened leaves.For all things turn to barrennessIn the dim glass the demons hold,The glass of outer weariness,Made when God slept in times of old.There, through the broken branches, goThe ravens of unresting thought;Flying, crying, to and fro,Cruel claw and hungry throat,Or else they stand and sniff the wind,And shake their ragged wings; alas!Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:Gaze no more in the bitter glass.

BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart,The holy tree is growing there;From joy the holy branches start,And all the trembling flowers they bear.The changing colours of its fruitHave dowered the stars with merry light;The surety of its hidden rootHas planted quiet in the night;The shaking of its leafy headHas given the waves their melody,And made my lips and music wed,Murmuring a wizard song for thee.There the Loves a circle go,The flaming circle of our days,Gyring, spiring to and froIn those great ignorant leafy ways;Remembering all that shaken hairAnd how the wingèd sandals dart,Thine eyes grow full of tender care:Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.

=-=

The poem itself consists of only the first two stanzas, but for my post here, I wanted to repeat the first stanza at the end. For in the Cat Blogosphere, in the hearts of my beloved kitty family and friends, I find the enduring spirit of the Holy Tree -- one of hope, love, and tender care.

Today I continue to remember and reflect on much-loved and much-missed family and friends at the Bridge, and I am also thinking today about the preciousness of life, love, and friendship, about the importance of turning away from the bitter glass and basking, instead, in the warmth of love's flaming circle.

sister dearest...your chosen Yeats words are so hauntingly beautiful today. I love trees...two trees growing side by side reach towards the other and the real story is under the ground....their roots are intermingled like heartstrings. So much happens and we see it not...unless we look with our hearts, not our eyes!That is my poetic wisdom this late at night...off to bed now...have a happy blessed Sunday...

You know Yates has been my sister's favorite poet for a long time and now I see why. This is a wonderful poem. With courage we shall all pull through this difficult time to look forward to new life and happiness in times to come...

It's just this kind of thing that makes yo so special in the eyes of your freinds. I know it's still a time of remembering but I have an award for you that is sent over from my bean to you. Just because your heart is so big, you wisdom and words so thought provoking and kind. I hope that you will come by and accept it.